Illegal Immigration Still An Issue In Southwest

U.S. Immigration Policy Needs Revision, Says Napolitano

Oct 22, 2008

AZ Governor Janet Napolitano calls for coherent immigration reform to better match U.S. needs for workers with those who wish to come here.

Although the current economic crisis has claimed front-page status, immigration continues to be an important issue for Americans. In February 2007, Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano addressed the National Press Club on the subject. Arizona is one of the states most affected by illegal immigration. The following explains a few points of what remains a relevant speech.

Illegal Immigrants in Arizona

Saying that "the current immigration system is broken," Napolitano explained that she is one of the few lawmakers who are personally familiar with the Arizona-Mexico border. Prior to becoming governor, she was Attorney General for Arizona. Between 1993 and 1997, she was the U.S. Attorney for the state. Consequently, she says, she has walked, flown by helicopter, and ridden horseback over this territory. "I have been in the drug tunnels, . . .and the sewers where children . . .sleep at night. I have seen the campsites strewn with abandoned clothing, human waste and refuse."

Once the immigrants make it into Arizona - and at one point, they were coming at a rate of an estimated 4,000 every 24 hours - they melt into the scenery, and either stay in Arizona or progress into other states. When they commit crimes, they end up in Arizona's prisons, leading to a 60% increase in the state's foreign-national prison population in six years. When they become ill, the Border Patrol drops them near local hospitals, so that the federal government won't have to pay the bill. The result in both these scenarios is the Arizona taxpayer picking up the tab.

Illegals Cost AZ Money

Napolitano believes that any good immigration policy should take into account the amount of money spent by Arizona taking care of these immigrants. It should also recognize that the 11 million people already here are not going to return to Mexico.

Napolitano says that the popular proposal to send the Mexicans back to their home state and have them apply to return to the U.S. is not reality based. The government simply does not have the resources to do this.

Instead, Napolitano wants the U.S. to substantially reform the visa system, by allowing more foreign graduates in engineering and the sciences to come here. She also wants to expand the number of visas allowed to Mexicans. Napolitano notes that although the Dominican Republic has only 8 million people to Mexico's over 100 million, the Dominican Republic receives more visas per capita than does Mexico. This means that a Mexican has to wait more than ten years to obtain a visa. Fixing this, she says, should be part of a long-term immigration policy that would "widen the legal labor pool and match the evolving labor needs of the United States."

Pursuant to this, she wants an "efficient, effective and properly resourced Justice Department, an immigration system that can police visa overstays and ongoing employer enforcement."

She also would like a temporary worker program with no amnesty. And, for Congress to work both sides of the issue, by clamping down on employers who knowingly hire illegals.

Napolitano believes that we must "create a strict, stringent pathway to citizenship." Such a pathway would include "a substantial fine, learning English, having no criminal record, keeping a job, paying taxes, and getting in the back of the line and waiting your turn."

Resources:

National Press Club Address Regarding Immigration, Border Security. Governor Janet Napolitano, February 27, 2007.

The copyright of the article Illegal Immigration Still An Issue In Southwest in American Affairs is owned by Darcy DeMarco. Permission to republish Illegal Immigration Still An Issue In Southwest in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.